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Massapequa, NY
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Massapequa, NY
“Golden retriever who ends up with a chocolate lab?” is one of my favorite crosswords clues that I’ve ever read.
@Mike Whenever we make pizza at home, my wife is responsible for shredding the cheese. She’s the gratist.
@Aaron Teasdale “Could be,” is when things are uncertain: I don’t know the guests COULD BE arriving. “Are,” is for when things are certain: The guests ARE arriving at 6:30pm. At least, that’s how I understand it.
With this reference and all this talk of in-flight magazine crosswords, I’m reminded that the very first time I finished a New York Times crossword was while waiting for a flight to Israel in 2007. I’d picked up a copy of the NYTimes and worked on the puzzle right up until I boarded the plane. I finished once I reached my seat. I’m pretty sure that was a Monday puzzle, and I’d continue working on puzzles from time to time, but only Mondays. It wasn’t until the pandemic lockdown — and the excellent NYT crossword app — that I set a goal to complete the harder puzzles of the week. Now I can complete the puzzle every day of the week!
I found this to be a delightful Saturday puzzle: Just difficult enough to reward patience and persistence, not so difficult as to be frustrating. Seemed like I’d be stumped by many clues on my first pass, but just plugged away at it, filling the grid in section by section.
Excellent Friday puzzle! Just what I like: challenging. Seemingly inscrutable, at first, the puzzle came together with dogged persistence after first finding a foothold in the southern portion of the grid. Well done!
For the last month, I’ve been completing the Daily Puzzle, then going to the archive and completing the puzzle for the same calendar day in 2015. They both happen to land on the same day of the week (5/30/15 is also a Saturday). Strangely, the May 30 puzzle from 2015 has 4 answers — ICONIC, TWISTS, OTTERS, and DON’T ERASE — that correlate with answers from today’s puzzle: 55A, 1D, 48D, 3D. Weird, huh? I wonder how that happens.
Shouldn’t the answer to 40A be plural? DOUBLE DIGIT(s)? All the other theme answers are plural, and this one is not. Or am I overthinking it? Enjoyable puzzle, though, and I liked the theme.
Nice, challenging, fresh Friday puzzle. Took me just about 2 minutes more than my average, but I appreciate stretching my brain to complete a puzzle with zero look-ups. The freshness of the clues and answers really gave my brain a good workout. Center of the grid — 35A and 35D — was the last to fall. Thanks for the workout.
Another delightful Saturday puzzle that played out like all my favorite Saturday puzzles — seemingly impenetrable, at first, but yielding to perseverance. Not a fan of so many proper names, though — they proved the hardest part of this one — but was able to suss out what I needed to from the crossings. Well done, Katie. Mom would definitely have kept this in a box of memorabilia. I’m sure she’d also have put a completed puzzle up on the fridge — proud of your construction, and of her completing it.
@Chris Maybe it’s a stretch, but 54A was the revealer for me. This is where I saw the puzzle fall into place. The answer showed me that “EI” had to do a ONE-EIGHTY to become “IE” — and vice versa — in the different rebus boxes scattered around the puzzle.
A tough, but not unpleasant or unmanageable Friday puzzle. My only complaint is at the crossing of 23A and 23D. At 23A, “Milquetoast” can be a noun, as clues here for the answer “WIMP,” or an adjective, which I originally filled in as “LIMP.” The correct answer for 23D, “Courses,” is “WAYS,” but my original answer, “LAYS,” seemed equally acceptable (as in the LAY of the land). I ended up only finding the error by looking at the answer key.
This is my kind of Saturday puzzle! Tough, but solvable. Needed to take a break, but finished after plugging away once I returned. Just about a minute over my average.
Just came to say, I think this was a perfect Friday puzzle. Just the right balance between fun — at times, whimsical — and challenging.
This my kind of Saturday puzzle. Looked like I had only 4 or 5 answers filled on the first pass. Kept at it and just plugged away until I finished — with no lookups! — under my average time. Like others here, the NW corner was last to fall.
A couple of spelling errors had me hunting to get the gold star today. Had “RIGAMeROLE” before correcting it, and didn’t know the proper spelling of Quinta’s last name, so had it as “BRUNSeN,” for a while. That last one kept me from figuring out the “GOLDEN GOAL” / “LINGO” crossing. Definitely a challenging puzzle, all around. Glad to have to work for it today. Well done, Ms. Hoody!
Fun Sunday puzzle. The rebus trick became clear for me with 26D — POPEYES. It helps that I’ve taught middle school science for 25 years, so I knew the answer to 39A — ERLENMEYER FLASK.
@Gareth Me, too! That part of the grid was my last to fill in.
Very tough Saturday. Came in at over 6 minutes more than my average, and I most definitely needed some help. That northwest corner was a pit of despair for me. Ugh.
@Sarah I know it’s a stretch, but when I got to 54A, the puzzle fell into place for me. The answer showed me that “EI” had to do a ONE-EIGHTY to become “IE” — and vice versa — in the different rebus boxes scattered around the puzzle.
@Lars I think it’s FALA, FRANKS, SNORRI. Yeah, those were tough. Had to look up two of those.
@Bobby Salmon It’s quite satisfying to reflect back on the week and realize that you didn’t have to look anything up to finish a puzzle.
What a fun Monday! Loved the D’OH theme. I also liked that quite a few of the shorter answers also fit the theme: 45A (NEO), 52A (ALOE), 65A (ONO), 67A (MARIO), 36D (YOLO), and 60D (INFO). Well done!
Took me way too long to figure out the theme. The revealers at the center of the puzzle were the last spaces I filled in. Once I got it , I said and did the clue/answer for 38D.
@Roberta I was thinking the SAME THING!
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